MT. JULIET, Tenn. (WTVF) — Mt. Juliet residents could soon see a significant increase in their property tax bills after city commissioners approved the first reading of a budget that includes a 400% tax hike.
The proposed increase would raise the current rate from 11 cents to 44 cents per $100 of assessed property value, primarily affecting funding for emergency services in the growing community.
For homeowners with a $400,000 property, annual taxes would jump from $110 to $440 per year if the measure passes a second vote later this month.
"400% is extremely high," said one Mt. Juliet resident.
The substantial increase has many residents doing a double take, with mixed reactions from the community.
"Just hearing that percentage is not exciting. It's an additional cost," one resident said.
Another resident noted, "Now it's becoming I guess Nashville if the taxes keep going up."
Some residents see the increase as inevitable given the city's growth.
"400% is a lot, but is it not inevitable?" said one resident. "You got more people, you need more roads. You can't complain about more people and not expect something like that to come."
Commissioner Scott Hefner voted against the amended budget and expressed regret that smaller, incremental increases weren't implemented earlier.
"I was upset when I found out that our director of finance and city manager was suggesting a 400-500% property tax increase," Hefner said.
"I owe the citizens an apology. Ultimately, that relies on me, the board of commissioners, because ultimately, I'm the one who votes for that budget. I want to make a public apology to the citizens of Mt. Juliet for not catching that three years ago, two years ago and not pushing for it last year," Hefner said.
Hefner plans to propose alternative solutions to the commission, including establishing "an independent committee to review our budget and provide the recommendation."
City leaders cite slowing sales tax revenues as the primary reason for the proposed increase. The measure requires a second vote to pass, with the board scheduled to meet again later this month.
Mt. Juliet has long attracted residents with its combination of amenities like robust pickleball facilities and historically lower property taxes compared to neighboring Nashville.
"When we were looking at houses, the biggest thing anyone said was, 'Nashville is cool, but you know what's cooler? Lower taxes. I said, 'Yeah that is cooler,'" one resident said.
In a statement, Commissioner Jennifer Milele says:
“The property taxes were set too low at 11 cents to begin with, in my opinion. Instead of a suggested premature guess of .44 cents from the Vice Mayor before any discussion, I would rather have seen a final rate from the Financial Director at second reading.
The city has been riding a sales tax for the past four to five years, so we could keep the rates low. The sales tax revenues have been slowing, therefore, we can no longer rely on them to fund the city, especially when our Public Safety is half the budget. We have no choice now but to look at an increase. We should have looked into raising them last year, in my opinion.”
This story was reported on-air by Amanda Roberts and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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